Still slogging away at a very long story, and I want it to be educational, culturally accurate and fun. I am yet uneasy about it, and the major reason is that some of the Characters are Middle Eastern. I do not want to trigger anyone's PTSD and hope that this won't. There is very little violence in it, and it is quickly dealt with. My own PTSD and anxiety issues won't permit it.

I just read an article in BBC called, "A Surprising Solution to a Water Crisis", that is set in Jordan and depicts how some Jordanian women are getting around their cultural limitations to ease the wastage of water there. The stringent cultural rules there for women are not surprising to me because I was raised in rural Oregon and my stepfather's rules in the 1950s were not that much easier than for the Jordanian women.

In the last week I have been attacked twice by a road rage driver whose vehicle had a Marine veteran sticker in the window. No one was injured in either incident and the incidents reinforced to me that I should not carry means of self defense. I'm still trying to understand the other driver's motivation in being aggressive toward me. I have a sticker on the back of my car that says, "Habibi" (Meaning 'sweetheart'), though it seems doubtful to me that it would trigger anyone.

Story to be out in May.

Gwen